Oregon Trail Pioneers

 Part 3 My Life with Beckwith Cook

                      Voice of Sybil Olds Cook

                           As told during the winter 1839

 Continued: 

            Like I said, I was born Sybil Olds on August 15, 1790 in Dalton, Massachusetts. Beckwith was born August 12, 1785, in Thomaston, Connecticut and we were married in Manlius, New York. The first official census of the United States of America was taken in 1790. Beckwith’s family, he, his father and mother, Selah and Lucy Beckwith Cook lived in Pittsfield, Massachusetts then. When the census was taken in 1810 Beckwith and I lived in Manlius, New York. While we lived in Manlius our children Berzilda, Seley Mansfield, and Joel Beckwith, we call him Jeb, were born. Beckwith’s long time family friend, William Rice and his wife Polly were married in Manlius in 1814 and their children Hamilton and Nancy were born there too. Beckwith and William’s families had been friends since they were children. We moved to Mantua, Ohio; William and Polly moved to Mantua, Ohio. Their daughter Mary and our daughter Lucy were born while we all lived in Mantua. William and Polly’s children Cyrenius, Lucinda, Ruth, and Horace were all born in Mantua where they live for many years. We moved a couple of times but it was never far and we remained close friends. Our daughter Sophia was born in Cleveland, Ohio and Harriet were born when we lived in Warren, Ohio.

                           I suppose when children grow up together it is no surprise when they marry each other. Our son Mansfield married William and Polly’s daughter Nancy a couple of years ago in Mantua, Ohio. Our son Jeb and their daughter Mary were married last spring on the new frontier of New Ottawa, Illinois where William and Polly had recently settled.

                           Beckwith and I moved to Iowa in September of this year, 1839, with a couple of other families. The Collver and Mudge families, Beckwith, our four unmarried children and I are all living in a one room cabin this winter. One house and a shelter for our livestock are all we had time to build before winter set in. Mansfield and Jeb and their wives have moved here too. It is very cold in Iowa this winter. The men have made the cabin as air tight as they can, by filling the gaps between the logs with rock and pieces of wood, then they daubed on a mixture of sand, clay, water, straw, lime and manure, but the cold still seems to sneak through the cracks.

                           Many of us are suffering and sick this winter. We received word from the Rice family that William is very sick. If I could only get warm I know I would feel better, but I am so cold. Not even the fire seems to warm me. I want my family to know that I love each one of them. Berzilda is thirty years old, Mansfield is twenty-seven years old and Jeb is twenty-four. They are married and have their own families. Lucy is fifteen, Sophia is eleven and Harriet is only eight years old. The girls are too young to be left without a mother to care for them, to love them, and to teach them how to be women of faith and courage. I know that Beckwith loves them and can take care of them but young girls need a mother.

                           I am so cold.

       (to be continued)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE:

                           Sybil Olds Cook died during the winter of 1839, a few months after they moved to Burr Oak Ridge, Cedar County, Iowa Territory.

                    William Rice King died December 20, 1839 in New Ottawa, La Salle County, Illinois Territory.

                           Mary Polly Pettingill King moved to Burr Oak Ridge soon after her husband William died.